Over the past twenty years there has been a dramatic increase in the occurrence of obesity in the United States and other countries around the world. This increase in obesity has occurred, even as improved approaches to weight control have been developed. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (“CDC”) has recently estimated that the prevalence of obesity in the United States is about thirty-four percent. Obesity is a significant health problem and has been shown to be causative of or associated with a number of serious health conditions, including diabetes and heart disease.
Various devices for modifying eating behavior to assist in weight control have been reported. Dubus et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,421,089 discloses a device with a timer that can be programmed to emit signals at predetermined intervals to help a user regulate his or her eating speed. However, the device is not capable of measuring the actual bites of food taken by a user. LePine, US Patent Application Publication No. US 2007/0098856 A1 discloses a chewing and swallowing measuring device. However, it provides little practical guidance on how the device does this and the device is not capable of measuring the actual bites of food taken by a user. Gold, US Patent Application Publication No. US 2008/0276461 A1 discloses a device that measures bites of food taken by a user using a pressure sensor that detects the weight of food. However, the ability of the pressure sensor of the device to distinguish between the weight of the food and other sources of pressure is unclear.
Therefore, there is a need for new approaches and devices to assist in weight control.